Virus Takes a Toll on Texas Poultry Business

By SIMON ROMERO

Published: May 16, 2003

NACOGDOCHES, Tex.—
David Alders's business is up a gravel road behind his white, two-story farmhouse: six air-conditioned poultry houses, each filled with 25,000 squawking chickens -- some 150,000 chickens in all, gorging on buckets of corn feed and sipping water from plastic nipples suspended in the air.

They are healthy chickens, and they provide a comfortable living for Mr. Alders, a lanky 42-year-old with eight children whose family has farmed on the outskirts of this blistering East Texas town since the 1830's.

Now, though, his livelihood is at risk. The detection some weeks ago of a virulent, chicken-killing virus in a few fighting cocks across the state in El Paso has prompted jittery -- and some here say revenge-minded -- governments from the European Union, Mexico, Russia, Japan and even Cuba to embargo imports of Texas poultry.

Never mind that no trace of the virus, exotic Newcastle disease, has been found in East Texas, the state's main poultry producing area. Or that Nacogdoches, an important base of operations for large food companies like Tyson Foods and Pilgrim's Pride, is closer to St. Louis than El Paso. Geography aside, the state's poultry industry, which ranks No. 6 in the country, says it stands to lose about $100 million as a result of the embargoes.

''The paranoia level has gotten turned up a few notches since the poultry industry here is paying for an isolated incident many hundreds of miles away,'' said Mr. Alders, who grows chickens for Pilgrim's Pride. ''You can understand our concern, when we send most of our dark meat products to Mexico and Russia. We don't know what we're going to do if those markets continue to shut us out.''

Consolidation in the poultry industry in recent years contributed to rising prosperity for many chicken growers. But the resulting efficiencies have fueled concern that the industry is more vulnerable to diseases like exotic Newcastle and avian influenza that can spread rapidly in regions producing millions of birds every month.

Poultry producers in other states, especially California, have also been affected by concern over the possible spread of exotic Newcastle, which was detected in October in Los Angeles by epidemiologists from the United States Department of Agriculture after it moved from backyard flocks to more than 20 commercial poultry operations in the state.

Since then, the U.S.D.A. has destroyed more than 3.5 million birds in California in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease, which is often referred to as END. Nonetheless, isolated cases have been detected in Nevada, Arizona and, finally last month, El Paso, after an owner returned from a cockfight in southern New Mexico and infected his game birds. Chickens from California, Nevada and Arizona have fallen victim to embargoes, as well.

The disease can kill virtually every bird in an unvaccinated flock, and vaccines are useless against some of its toughest strains.

Infected birds often suffer fits of sneezing, diarrhea and muscular tremors before dying in 2 to 15 days. The disease is transmitted through infected birds' droppings and secretions, but can also be spread by humans who come in contact with the virus. Experts do not consider the disease a risk to humans.

The last major outbreak was in California in 1971, when the federal government destroyed more than 11 million birds at a cost of $56 million.

Here in Texas, farmers and industry executives have privately complained that some countries seemed quick to impose embargoes after the recent breakout. They suggest that the moves were in retaliation for strict controls on some imports by the United States, like new tuberculosis exams for cattle coming from Mexico or tariffs on steel products from Russia.

Publicly, however, executives at large poultry producers are hesitant to criticize the embargoes, anxious not to irritate important trading partners or regulators in places where the companies have established operations. For example, Pilgrim's Pride, based in Pittsburg, Tex., also operates a large processing plant in the Mexican state of Querétaro, which mainly supplies nearby Mexico City.

But the industry is not shy about warning of the consequences of the embargoes for farmers.

''We're certainly upset about this,'' said James Grimm, executive vice president of the Texas Poultry Federation, which is based in Austin. ''All of our markets are set up for export, so this disruption in trade is causing a lot of distress.''

Epidemiologists almost always react quickly to any sign of exotic Newcastle. According to the U.S.D.A., the virus has sometimes been spread by debeaking and vaccination crews, truck drivers and manure haulers.

''END is the most virulent disease known to birds on the planet, essentially what hoof-and-mouth disease is to livestock,'' said Larry Hawkins, a U.S.D.A. spokesman. ''It is unfortunate that those folks in East Texas are suffering. But if there's any silver lining, it's that we haven't found any additional examples of the disease in that area.''